Double Trouble COMPLETE
by FullMoonDreams
Summary: A spell cast during the Christmas holidays of the marauders' sixth year at Hogwarts brings duplicates of James, Sirius, Remus and Peter from a parallel world into their own. Full summary inside. Slash. Please read and review.
1. Doorways

Disclaimer: I own nothing – in case it wasn't blindingly obvious anyway ;-)

Summary – If four marauders can cause trouble, what can eight of them do?

A spell cast during the Christmas holidays of the marauders' sixth year at Hogwarts brings their duplicates from a parallel world into their own.

Imagine a world where Sirius is the studious swot, Peter is the popular playboy, Remus is the ringleader and James has been dating Lily for over two years.

Chaos and mischief ensue as the duplicates find themselves trapped in a new world and the regular marauders learn more about themselves than they imagined.

This story is already written in full and as such will not be a story that is left hanging for months on end with no resolution.

**Warnings**: Some **strong language** (hopefully no worse than the books or films themselves) and **mild slash** later on in the story (Remus/Sirius – though I'm not saying which Remus and which Sirius). If you don't like it don't read it. Flames will simply be ignored.

* * *

**Double Trouble**

_Chapter 1 – Doorways_

"Moo-neeey!"

The voice carried into the room long before its owner appeared in the doorway of the sixth year Gryffindor boys' dormitory.

Remus Lupin sighed and knew that he'd been found.

"There you are!" Sirius rushed into the room and flung himself onto Remus's bed. "Mr Moony's presence is required in the common room immediately, on a matter of the utmost importance," Sirius said in a mock serious tone.

Remus took a last longing look at his book but knew that it was hopeless.

"What are you doing schoolwork for?" Sirius asked. "It's the Christmas holidays."

Remus wondered whether it would be worth the effort of explaining that the book was actually a mystery thriller he'd received for Christmas and had nothing whatever to do with schoolwork. One look at Sirius's face was enough to dissuade him of making the effort. In Sirius's mind, Remus's books were boring, no matter what was contained within the pages.

Without waiting for Remus's answer Sirius picked up the discarded bookmark, took the book from Remus's hands, and after marking his place, carefully placed the book on the bedside table. Remus smiled at the care his friend had taken.

"Something amusing?" Sirius asked as he turned back to his friend and caught the look.

"Just pleased to see that you still remember my finger-reversal hex," Remus replied, his smile turning into a smirk.

"Still say you went overboard on that one," Sirius muttered. "It was only a book."

"It was_ my_ book and you slung it out the window to get my attention," Remus retorted.

Sirius rolled his eyes as he pulled Remus to his feet and steered him towards the door.

Downstairs in the common room James and Peter were leaning over one of the tables, clearly intent on something. They barely looked up when Remus and Sirius pulled up chairs to join them.

"James Potter with his nose in a book during the holidays?" Remus asked with a faint trace of sarcasm.

James looked up at grinned. "Christmas present from my dad. I want to try one of the spells but it seems to need more than one person."

"Which spell?" asked Remus as he looked closer at the open pages.

"A spell to see ourselves as we've never seen us before," James said. "It's a bit vague but I think it'll show us the future."

"I've already pointed out to him that that's open to debate," Peter said. "We're going to have to do the spell and see for ourselves to know for sure."

"It must be complicated if it needs four of us," Remus commented as he tried to read the instructions.

"It only really needs two," James admitted. "But if I'm going to marry Lily I want to make sure you all see that or you won't believe me."

Remus looked at the ceiling as though searching for guidance. Lily! Of course, it was always about Lily.

Fifteen minutes later James and Sirius were ready to begin the spell, with Peter and Remus standing by to witness the results.

James and Sirius took turns in reading the incantations and completing the complicated wand movements.

"Is something actually supposed to happen?" Remus asked after this had been going on for some time without so much as a spark from one of their wands.

James glared at him but didn't stop reading from the book.

Sirius had given up and was looking rather dejected when James suddenly let out a rather unmanly squeak.

Remus looked to where James's gaze was transfixed and immediately saw what had caused his excitement. A few feet away, hovering in the middle of the room was a watery like substance that seemed to be expanding more and more with each completion of the wand movement.

As the substance expanded the four boys leaned forward to see what it was and to try to make out the shadowy figures that seemed to be moving within it.

James was starting to flag a little but when it was around six feet in both height and width it seemed that the substance had finally reached its limit and the shadowy figures suddenly came into focus.

"That's us!" Sirius exclaimed. "Wow! We look different."

Remus leaned forward and had to agree with the assessment. It was clear they were looking at themselves but there was something not quite right about them.

The other Sirius was looking at the group with an intense expression on his face that Remus had never seen before. Peter looked slimmer and far more confident than he usually appeared. James had the same messy hair but there was something about him that was missing. Remus wondered what it was until he took a closer look at his own double and realised that what was missing from James was the look of wild mischief, something that his own double seemed to have in abundance.

"That can't be the future," James muttered in disappointment. "We look the same age."

"I think they're trying to say something," Peter said. Everyone leaned forward but whilst the visual was in perfect clarity there was no accompanying sound.

Their other selves seemed to be having the same problem and Sirius's double was gesturing with his hands over his ears that they couldn't hear them. Peter copied his gesture to indicate that they were having the same difficulties.

"Well this seems to be a bit of a let down after all that trouble," Remus said.

James nodded in agreement. "I wonder how we shut it down."

"Doesn't it say in the book?"

"It sounded like the vision would just disappear on its own."

Remus picked up the book and started to re-read the entire chapter that focused on the spell. It was remarkably unhelpful.

"Looks like they're trying something on the other side," James said. Remus looked up from the book and saw that sure enough the four doubles appeared to be trying to push the barrier inwards from the sides.

"Do you think they see us the same way we're seeing them?" Sirius asked. "In a kind of bubble?"

"I have an idea," James said as he raised his wand again.

Remus watched as James muttered a spell that enabled him to sketch words in the air. In this manner he asked Sirius's question.

The four doubles nodded enthusiastically that this was indeed the case.

"Ask if they know how to shut it down?" Remus asked.

James did so but it was clear from the expressions on the doubles that they had no more idea than they did.

For the next half hour the eight boys communicated in this manner and Remus and his friends discovered that the others were just like themselves in many respects. They attended Hogwarts, they were in Gryffindor, they were best friends, and they were staying at school for the holidays because Peter's eight year old brother had dragon pox and they had decided to remain with him so that he wouldn't be the only Gryffindor left in the school.

They also discovered that their doubles had succeeded in completing the spell immediately leading them to the conclusion that the second person required was the other James and not one of them.

Unfortunately they were still no wiser as to how they were going to shut down what appeared to be a window between their two worlds.

It was only when the other Sirius started to poke at the barrier that they realised that the window was in fact a doorway.

The excitement was contagious and soon they were contemplating who should step through the portal first.

Sirius was about to step through to the other side when their doubles visibly jumped and looked somewhere off to their right. Remus guessed that they had heard footsteps coming and didn't want to get caught. Whatever the reason they appeared to make a collective decision and moments later they fell through the portal which, after all their speculating, simply decided at that point to shut down on its own.

"I bet it was McGonagall," the other Remus said. "Old bat's constantly sticking her nose into the common room in case she thinks we're up to something."

Remus gasped at his double's words. He'd never spoken so disrespectfully about the Head of Gryffindor house in his life. She'd always been especially kind to him following the full moons, making allowances for the occasional late assignment and checking he was well.

His expression of shock was mirrored on the faces of his friends though Sirius was quick to find his voice. "Crikey Moony, never thought I'd hear you say something like that."

Remus's double looked blank. "Moony?" he asked with obvious confusion.

"I guess he doesn't have my nickname," Remus said with a shrug.

"What sort of a nickname's Moony?" the other Remus sneered.

"It's better than Wormtail," Peter muttered.

The other Peter looked as confused as the other Remus had just moments before.

James interceded and gestured in turn to each member of their group. "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," he finished pointing to himself. "The Marauders."

The other Remus stepped forward and introduced his own group who all apparently went by their given names and didn't have a collective name at all.

For a few moments there was an awkward silence and then suddenly they all started talking at once.

They soon realised that the only way to avoid total confusion was for the marauders to use their nicknames and the doubles to use their regular names. It wasn't long before they were all chatting like old friends and had broken off into groups.

James and Sirius seemed to be delighted with the other Remus who was as big a prankster as they were.

Remus on the other hand was finding that the other Sirius was the only one who seemed as interested in the dynamics of the spell as he was and they were soon having an animated discussion about what exactly they had achieved on this afternoon.

The two Peters and the other James meanwhile alternatively chatted together or drifted between the other two groups.

All too soon though it was decided that the doubles had to return to their own world before they were missed.

The two James pulled out their wands and began the spell again.

Nothing happened.

"It took a while last time," Remus pointed out, though he had a dawning suspicion that that was not the problem.

The two boys continued to try to open the portal but to no avail. Eventually it grew dark and they decided to take a break.

"I'll bet it needs someone in each world to do the spell," the other Sirius said. "We're here now so it's not working. There's no one to make the connection at the other side."

Remus nodded his agreement.

"So we're stuck here?" James asked with more worry than Remus had ever heard their own James display.

"We'll sort something out," Remus assured him. "We'll hit the books and between the eight of us we'll find a solution." The other Sirius nodded in enthusiastic agreement but the looks from the others didn't exactly instil him with a lot of confidence.

* * *

_Author Notes: I have tried to make it clear throughout this chapter and the later ones as to which of the various characters is the one speaking at any given time. I hope that it is clear to the reader as well. However if there are any parts that are truly confusing and you don't know which Sirius, Remus, James or Peter is speaking/doing what then please let me know either by review of PM. _

_Just to clarify - from a writing point of view the way it is now was easier for me as I am not used to their nicknames as much as I am their regular names - comes from writing first year fics. I did actually start it with using the nicknames but was constantly having to go back and replace the names as I was typing the regular names automatically. I would like opinions from a reading point of view rather than a writing one.  
_


	2. Possibilities

_Chapter 2 – Possibilities _

By midnight they were still no nearer a solution to the problem but most of the group were disinclined to worry too much about it.

"We've got two whole days before the rest of the school gets back," James pointed out. "Our Remus and your Sirius will have a solution long before then."

"We'd probably find one a lot faster if the rest of you tried to help," Remus commented with a pointed glance at the piles of books from the library that they still had to look through.

"You'll manage," James replied. "In the meantime Remus here has some great prank ideas."

"Glad to see you have your priorities sorted out," the other Sirius muttered.

"What if we can't find a solution before the rest of the school comes back?" Remus asked casually. "We'll have to tell Professor McGonagall."

"I don't see why," Sirius said with a look of surprise. "They can stay in here. We have the dorm to ourselves. No one will ever know they're here."

"I don't like the idea of being trapped in here all the time," the other Remus said with a frown.

"And I want to get back before classes start again," the other Sirius added. "And James will want to get back in time to see Lily."

Remus rolled his eyes as their own James launched into a long speech about the perfection that was Lily Evans. Although he didn't say anything specifically, Remus had already formed the distinct impression that the other James had made far more progress with the girl than his own friend had.

"I don't think we've really thought about all the advantages of what we have here," Sirius suddenly said.

"What do you mean Padfoot?" asked Peter.

"Well with two of each of us we can cause twice as much mischief and get away with it. We can be our own alibis."

"I like _that_ idea," the other Remus said, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"We can use the map to make sure that none of us are seen with our doubles at any time," Sirius continued. "Peter might be a problem though. Of all of us you two look more different from each other. The rest of us can have a lot of fun with this though."

"I'd really like to get back before classes start," the other Sirius repeated.

"You can go to my classes for me, if you're that desperate," Sirius replied with a laugh.

"Really?" the other Sirius said with an expression of absolute delight on his face.

"Is anyone else kind of freaked out by seeing Padfoot eager for lessons?" James asked with a laugh.

"Here's my timetable," Sirius said after a few moments rummaging around in his trunk.

He passed the worn piece of paper to his counterpart. "Is this all you do?" the other Sirius asked. "Don't you take Ancient Runes, Arithmancy or Potions?"

"What for?" Sirius asked.

"And Muggles Studies?" his counterpart continued. "The soft option. Why does this not surprise me?"

"Oh, I only took that to piss off my mother," Sirius explained. "Plus for NEWT level sixty five percent of your grade is determined by a class project instead of the exam."

"Sirius is building a muggle motorbike for his project," Remus explained while Sirius turned to rummage through his trunk once more.

"It'll be great," Sirius said as he placed various muggle photographs onto the table to show what it was he was constructing.

"He may actually manage it as well," Peter commented. "It's the only class he actually bothers to work properly in."

"Why would this annoy mother?" the other Sirius asked.

"Have you _met_ my mother?" asked Sirius with rare bitterness.

"Apparently not," the other Sirius replied. "My mum isn't that bothered about what subjects I do as long as I get enough NEWTs to get a position in the Ministry."

"We really are from different worlds," Sirius said with a trace of sadness and lingering bitterness.

Suddenly no one could meet anyone else's eyes and the tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Finally the other Remus broke the silence. "So what's this about a map?"

The tension passed and James and Sirius launched into an explanation of the Marauders' Map whilst Peter searched the room to see where they had last left it.

Remus shared an amused smile with the other Sirius and they turned back to their research.

* * *

"Nothing?" Sirius asked in disbelief as he picked through the latest pilfered foods from the kitchens.

"Nothing wrong with your hearing Padfoot," Remus replied sarcastically. "We've been through every book we can find that might help, including the restricted section, and have found…nothing."

It was the last day of the holidays, the day when the rest of the school was due to return, and they were no nearer to finding a solution to their problem than they had been when the portal had first closed.

"In that case, we need a strategy before the rest of the Gryffindors return," James said. "The map can only help us so far. We _have_ to make sure that none of us are spotted with our doubles or the game will be up."

"This _isn't _a game," the other Sirius pointed out. "This is a screwed up spell and…"

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius waved his hand airily. "We know. But we'll sort it out eventually."

"Maybe we should tell Professor McGonagall, or Dumbledore," Remus suggested, for the fifth time that morning. He and the other Sirius were immediately outvoted and the suggestion was once again filed away under 'Only If We Absolutely Have To'.

* * *

"So we all know what we're going to do for classes?" James asked. "Me and the other James are going to share our lessons since we're doing the same NEWTs. I'll do the first day then he'll do the next and so on. Sirius?"

"I'll carry on with Muggle Studies," Sirius confirmed. "The other Sirius will do the rest but I'll do the homework assignments so I don't fall too far behind."

"You mean so that the Professors don't wonder how come your handwriting is suddenly legible?" Remus questioned. He ducked the pillow that flew in his direction and continued. "The other Sirius will join me in Arithmancy and Ancient Runes under the invisibility cloak and he'll join James in Potions the same way. That way he won't fall behind in his own studies.

As for me, I'll just carry on with my lessons and Remus," he nodded to his counterpart, "can read my notes if he wants to keep up."

"Not flaming likely," the other Remus said with a snort.

"And Peter will have to go to his own classes," Remus continued. He turned to Peter's double. "You'll have to use his notes to keep up as well."

"It's a good job the content of our lessons are the same," the other Sirius commented.

"So we're all sorted?" James asked.

"What about Quidditch?" the other Peter questioned. "Me and Remus are on the Gryffindor team."

"Really?" Peter asked. "James and Sirius are chasers for our team, what do you play?"

"I'm a chaser and Peter's our seeker," Remus replied. "We've got the strongest team in fifty years."

"Well you can't practice with our team as our Remus and Peter aren't on it," James said. "Though all us players could go out and practice together as long as the rest of you aren't around."

"Peter and Remus on the Quidditch pitch," Sirius laughed. "This I've got to see."

"I could say the same thing about you," the other Remus said with a laugh of his own.

* * *


	3. Replaced

_Chapter 3 – Replaced_

The eight boys made sure that they were safely out of the way in the dormitory as soon as they heard the distant sounds of the carriages approaching the school.

"What's pulling them?" the other Peter asked as he looked out the window at the bustle of students and teachers in the grounds below. "We've just got regular horses pulling our carriages."

"Thestrals," Remus replied. "We've got the only tame herd in the country according to Hagrid."

"Can any of you see them?" the other James asked as he too looked out the window.

"I can," Remus admitted. "I was with my grandfather when he passed."

"The rest of us can't," Sirius said.

"Wouldn't want to," Peter muttered. "Creepy things."

"I can see them," the other James said. "I think I'll go down and take a closer look at them."

"I'll stay in here until you return," James said. "Don't take too long though. I want to see my Lily again."

The other James was gone out of the door a moment later and Remus looked steadily at his friend. "You _have_ told him that you're not actually dating Lily, right?"

"Er…"

"You haven't, have you?"

"But _he __is_," James muttered. "I didn't like to mention that she just refuses to spend any time with me when he's been more successful than I have."

Remus groaned and shook his head silently.

"What?" James asked.

"Nothing," Remus assured him. "I'm going down to the common room to see who else is back."

"Me too," Sirius said enthusiastically. "Unless you wanted to go take a look at the thestrals?" he asked his counterpart.

The other Sirius shook his head and turned back to the book he was reading.

* * *

Sirius stretched out on the sofa nearest the fire. Remus kicked his feet out of the way and joined him.

"Seems weird having them here, doesn't it?" Sirius said in a quiet tone. He wondered if Remus found it as disconcerting as he did to see someone who looked so like himself but acted so completely differently.

"I can't get used to seeing 'you' reading a book," Remus chuckled. "I'm trying to ignore my other self. It's like I've suddenly got an extra lunatic to try to keep in line."

"Ah Moony, you love us really, admit it."

"It's like babysitting a bunch of hyperactive hippogriffs," Remus teased with a long suffering sigh.

"Git," Sirius retorted just as the portrait hole opened.

"Hi Lily," Remus called. "Have a nice Christmas?"

"It was great," Lily said with an enthusiasm that would have fooled anyone but Remus.

"You didn't see him over the holidays then?" he asked. He didn't need to say who he was referring to, he knew that Lily would know exactly who he meant. He still felt guilty over not interceding in the incident after their DADA OWL. If he had, he had a feeling that Lily Evans and Severus Snape would still have been friends.

"Our friendship's really over," Lily said. "I sent his card back to him."

"_Snivellus_ sent you a card?" Sirius snickered.

"Lily, sweetheart," a familiar voice called from the portrait hole. "Did you have a nice holiday?"

"Oh crap," Sirius muttered with a nervous glance at Remus.

Lily meanwhile had turned to face James. Sirius didn't need to see her face to imagine her eyes narrowing and her colour rising with her temper. He sat mute as the other James threw his arms around Lily and kissed her soundly on the lips.

"Oh Merlin," Remus whispered beside him as they watched Lily knee James in the groin, stamp on his foot and after wrenching herself free from his grasp, deliver him a resounding slap to the face.

"Arrogant git," Lily hissed as she levitated her trunk towards the staircase.

"You okay?" Sirius asked as he and Remus hurried over to the groaning boy.

"What did I do?" he asked once he'd recovered his voice.

"It's not you," Remus assured him.

"Moony's right," Sirius added. "It's just that our Lily doesn't seem to be the sweet girl that you got in your world. Our Lily is a spitfire and doesn't really like our James much."

"I thought they were dating?" the other James said. "I mean I forgot for a minute when I first saw her. I just saw her and for a minute I thought I was back with my Lily. They look just the same."

"Our James is as smitten with Lily as you are," Remus said. "He just hasn't managed to get her to agree to go out with him yet."

"Guess he forgot to mention that," the other James muttered as he limped towards the dormitory.

* * *

"Mr Black, have you forgotten everything you've ever learned over the last five years!"

Remus felt himself cringing under Professor McGonagall's harsh glare even though it was directed towards the boy sitting next to him.

The regular Sirius was excellent at Transfiguration, having spent many hours studying the subject along with James and Peter in order to become an illegal animagus.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this Sirius and his friends had chosen not to take that route to help their Remus out on the nights of the full moon. Remus wondered briefly whether the other Remus was even a werewolf but soon pushed the speculation aside in order to concentrate on the lesson.

"Your Sirius is really good at Transfiguration?" the other Sirius asked in a whisper as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch.

"He's probably as smart as you," Remus said with a shrug. "It's just he only studies when he wants to. He's been slacking off in Transfiguration this year anyway."

"How come?"

"He knows as much as he wants to," Remus replied. "Now he's got what he wanted from the subject he's lost interest. He only took it at NEWT because it's his best subject."

"Same as me," James chimed in from behind them. "Did you notice Moony? Ten points for Gryffindor."

"It'll start to make up for the thirty she took from you at the end of last term for charming her biscuit tin into biting her fingers."

"Ah Moony, good times," James said with a sigh of contentment.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Lily asked with a frown.

Remus looked guiltily at the stash of food he'd been in the process of smuggling out of the Great Hall. As he had a free period next he'd volunteered to take supplies to the boys hiding up in the dormitory whilst James and the other Sirius went to Potions and Peter went to the library to make a start on his homework. He'd hoped that no one would notice his pilfering.

"Just a snack for later," he improvised. "I've got a free afternoon and if I'm really engrossed in my homework I might forget to come down for dinner."

Lily looked doubtfully at the huge stack of food Remus was cramming into his bag but didn't question him further.

Remus hurried back to the boys' dorm before she called him on his lie. He made a mental note to have a word with the house elves in the kitchen and see whether they could provide some food directly to the dormitory from now on.

* * *

"I win!" Sirius crowed as he won the latest round in the game of exploding snap with the counterparts of his friends. "Hey, Moony, you got lunch there?"

"Of course," Remus replied as he dug into his bag and handed out the various items of food. "How's it going up here?"

"Boring," the other Remus replied. "You mind if I go wander round the school for a bit?"

"Sure," Remus replied, waving his hand towards the door. "I'll start my homework assignments up here."

"You coming Sirius?" the other Remus asked.

"I feel a prank coming on," Sirius said with a wide grin.

The two boys left the common room and entered the main school with mischief on their minds.

"Have you ever bewitched one of the portraits?" Remus asked with a grin. "We once gave the Slytherin common room entrance portrait deafness so he couldn't hear any of the passwords."

"We haven't done that, but we did enchant two suits of armour to waltz continuously around the school."

"What do you think we should do for our first joint effort?" Remus asked.

"Never done anything in the astronomy tower," Sirius suggested. "Any ideas?"

"Might have," Remus replied as he hurried in that direction.

They arrived at the astronomy tower, empty as it normally was during the daytime, and Remus set to work on the first of the school telescopes.

"What have you done to it?" Sirius asked after Remus had stood back. "It doesn't look any different."

"Take a look and see."

"It's not going to give me a black eye or anything is it?"

"Nothing so obvious."

Sirius stepped cautiously to the telescope and looked through the eyepiece. "Whoa," he whispered as he looked at the stars dancing around in his vision. They were no longer stationary but instead were moving about in a complex and hypnotic dance. "Very pretty, but how is the class going to see anything properly?"

"Exactly," Remus replied. "I'm sure your Professor Sinistra will know how to fix it just like mine did. Wasted half the lesson fixing them all when we did this in the third year."

Remus taught Sirius the spell required and within fifteen minutes they had bewitched all the school telescopes.

"What next?" Remus asked as they made their way back downstairs.

"Invisible puddle in the entrance to the Great Hall?" Sirius suggested. "We've done it before but if you've not seen it then it should be a laugh at dinner."

"I'll be stuck upstairs though," Remus pointed out.

"Moony will be studying for hours, you can come down in his place."

"He won't mind?"

"Nah, Moony's a good sort for stuff like that."

"Why do you call him Moony?" Remus asked.

"It's just a nickname," Sirius evaded.

The marauders had discussed at length during mealtimes in the Great Hall whether to reveal the extent of their rule breaking to their counterparts. In the end they'd decided to draw the line at telling them about the illegality of some of their activities. Sirius was unsure whether this other Remus was even a werewolf, he'd certainly had an easy time of it if he was; there were no visible scars on him and he looked far more healthy than their own Remus did. Sharing pranks was one thing but none of them trusted their counterparts so much yet that they would risk revealing Moony's secret to a group who hadn't had the time to get to know him and might not want to protect him and help him during the full moons.

Remus looked like he was going to ask him to elaborate but thankfully they'd arrived in the Entrance Hall and Sirius distracted him by casting the invisible puddle spell and demonstrating it by walking water all over the floor.

"It drove Filch up the wall for hours when we did this before," Sirius said. "He just couldn't find where the water was coming from."

"Why didn't he just do a spell to find it?" Remus asked curiously.

"He's a squib," Sirius explained. "Your Filch is a wizard?"

"Yeah, 'course he is," Remus replied. "Makes it a nightmare to get away with anything around him. You've got it so lucky that he's a squib in this world."

"Well he might be a squib but he's damn good at his job," Sirius muttered. "We'd better get out of here before he comes along; I swear that cat of his can smell troublemakers."

"What next?" Remus asked once they were sitting at the side of the lake. "How about foaming the lake? We meant to do that once but never got round to it."

"Bad idea." Sirius shook his head. "We _did_ get around to doing that one last year and lost a hundred house points and got two months of daily detentions. The mer-people who live in the lake wanted to kill us. I think Dumbledore was tempted to let them too."

"You sound like you regret that prank," Remus commented quietly.

"Don't you regret any of yours?" Sirius asked, his curiosity aroused.

"I only regret getting caught." Remus laughed and looked back towards the school. "So not the lake then. What about the Quidditch pitch?"

"We could turn the grass red and gold," Sirius suggested. "The Ravenclaw-Slytherin match is coming up and it'll put off the Slytherins no end. The flying lessons always take place in the mornings so the coast should be clear."

Remus grinned back.

* * *

Remus looked up as Sirius and his counterpart burst through the door to the dormitory.

"Made it!" Sirius said as he collapsed onto his bed. "Moony, you don't mind Remus coming down to dinner instead of you tonight, do you?"

Remus shrugged with feigned indifference. He'd not planned on heading downstairs this evening anyway but somehow, hearing Sirius's words, he couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that he was being replaced within the marauders…by himself.

"Told you he'd be okay with it," Sirius declared. "I'll bring you some chocolate pudding back later."

"Thanks Padfoot," Remus said, cheering considerably.

His unease returned later though when he heard his three friends and the other Remus whispering and giggling long into the night. With a twinge of regret he realised that Sirius and James hadn't tracked him down to invite him to join in any of their mischief since the other Remus had arrived.

He realised long after the others had gone to sleep that they had the Remus they'd always wanted…the one who would join in the troublemaking without censure and revel in causing chaos.

Now they had the other Remus they didn't need _him_ any more.


	4. Unexpected

Author Notes: A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed/commented on this story. I am pleased that you are enjoying it.

_Chapter 4 – Unexpected_

Sirius looked around the corner and saw their target was heading in their direction. "_Snivellus_ will be here in about twenty seconds," he whispered to his fellow conspirators. The group today consisted of Peter and the doubles of Remus and James.

"Who's_ Snivellus_?" James asked curiously.

"Greasy little dark arts expert in Slytherin," Sirius whispered. "Deserves everything he gets, believe me. We try to give him a good bat-bogey hex at least once a month."

"You want me to do the honours?" James asked with a grin.

"Okay," Sirius said just as Snape stepped round the corner. "Hey_ Snivellus_, we've got something for you."

Snape turned round with a glare, his wand already in his hand and pointed directly at them.

"Sev?" James asked, lowering his own wand. Sirius guessed that he was about to say something else but Snape, clearly anticipating trouble, fired off a hex of his own and James was sent sprawling onto the ground.

"What happened?" Sirius asked after they'd retreated back to the dormitory. "He was right there!"

"It was Severus," James said with a shake of his head.

"_Snivellus_," Sirius corrected. "What was the problem?"

"I couldn't hex one of my best friends," James replied.

Sirius stood mute for several minutes. "I'm sorry, could you please repeat that? I thought you said you were best friends with_ Snivellus_."

"Have been since first year," James said. "We went through a bit of a rough patch when me and Lily started dating but we're mates again now."

"But it's_ Snivellus_!"

"Severus," James corrected. "No wonder your James hasn't managed to get anywhere with Lily. You do realise they're really good friends, don't you?"

"They used to be," Sirius said. "But not since the OWLs. Your Snape must be really different to ours."

"I guess," James said. "But I don't really want to hex your Severus. I'll hex any of your other Slytherins, fine. But not Sev."

"Your Snape," Sirius just couldn't bring himself to call the other boy Severus. "Your Snape…he just lets you hex the Slytherins."

"Our Sev's in Ravenclaw," Remus explained. "He hates the Slytherins and what they stand for as much as we do. He tutored me through Potions for my OWL."

"He plays keeper for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team," James added. "Kept us from winning the cup last year as well." He and Remus laughed easily at some shared memory and Sirius shook his head in astonishment.

"I can't believe you and Snape are friends," Peter said. "It sounds like it should be against the natural order of the universe of something."

"It's just wrong," Sirius added shaking his head again.

* * *

It was a Tuesday evening of the second week of term and by this point the eight marauders as they were now calling themselves had got their schedules down to an exact science. As such they really had no excuse for what happened.

Sirius, Peter, James and the other Remus were playing a game of exploding snap in the common room. The only reason they weren't using the dormitory was because the other Peter and James were trying to study so they didn't fall behind with their own work.

Remus and the other Sirius were holed up in the library trying to find a way to send their other selves back home. It had seemed far enough away that no one would notice them there and in the common room at the same time.

"Remus?"

Sirius looked up from their game as Lily approached the table.

"What's up babe?" Remus asked as the other three boys cringed. Lily blinked a time or two and a small frown appeared on her face but she didn't move away.

"I just saw you and Sirius in the library, not five minutes ago," Lily said with an expression of confusion on her face. "I was wondering how you got back here so fast."

"Tell you what," James interrupted. "We'll tell you…if you agree to come to Hogsmeade with me next month."

Lily shot James a glare.

"You must have been mistaken," Sirius said. "We've been here for the last hour, ask anyone." Sirius had raised his voice at that last and several other students turned to the group and nodded in agreement.

"I'm not mistaken," Lily insisted. "You were both in the nook at the back."

"We can't have been," Sirius pointed out in what he hoped was a reasonable tone of voice but suspected he sounded rather impatient and panicked. Lily was the smartest girl in their year and if she even suspected that something was going on it was only a matter of time before she put two and two together and they all landed in detention.

"I just _saw_ you there," Lily said. "I'm not blind."

"And yet you still refuse to go out with me," James piped up.

Seeing that it was pointless to continue the conversation Lily shot James a final glare before stalking towards the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"She's going to be a pain in the arse if she thinks something's going on," Sirius muttered. "All we need is Miss Evans, perfect prefect, sticking her nose in."

"Don't worry about it," Remus said. "I'm more interested in what she said about where she had seen the other me and Sirius."

"The library?" Peter asked in confusion. "But we know they're in the library. They're going to head back at eight o'clock so you two aren't in here when they get back."

"Not just the library," Remus said with a smirk. "The nook."

"So?" Sirius asked. "They probably want to make sure I'm not seen in the library too often. That would be sure to flag up alarm bells with the staff."

"Isn't the nook a make out point in this world?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," Sirius confirmed. "But they're both guys."

"You mean you're not…?" Remus's voice trailed off and he gave the impression of just having figured something out.

"I'm not…what?" Sirius asked hesitantly.

"Well I've not seen you with any girls since we got here," Remus said.

"So? The only decent looking girl in our year is Evans, and James would murder me if I made a move on her."

"Like she doesn't hate you as much as James," Peter pointed out.

"Whatever," Sirius waved his hand airily. "But back to the point here. Are you trying to say that you think I'm," he lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "gay."

"Well our Sirius is," Remus said with a shrug of his shoulders. "He came out last year, said it was too stressful keeping that a secret and doing his OWLs at the same time."

James and Peter guffawed with laughter. Sirius was too much in shock to do much more than open and close his mouth a time or two.

"You didn't know?" Remus asked as he looked round the table.

James and Peter were clinging to each other and mild hysteria seemed to be setting in. They were drawing the attention of others in the room and Sirius gave them each a sharp kick under the table to try to bring them under control.

"Apparently not," Remus continued. "Well it's about time our Sirius got himself a date. Seems to me that, strange as it seems, your Remus and our Sirius are actually quite perfect for each other."

"But Moony's not gay," Sirius pointed out. "We'd know if he was. He'd have told us if he was."

"You don't know that," Remus replied. "Our Sirius kept it quiet for over a year before he plucked up the courage to let us know. Thought we'd dump him as a friend or something."

"Moony would have told us," Sirius repeated. "He's _not_ gay."

"What are you worried about?" Remus muttered. "If you're right he'll tell our Sirius that if he makes a move on him."

"But I don't want your Sirius to make a move on our Moony," Sirius hissed back.

"Why not?" Remus asked. "Jealous?"

Sirius had no answer to that and as it was nearly eight they decided to clear out of the common room in separate directions so that the others could come back inside without drawing attention to themselves.


	5. Revelations

_Chapter 5 – Revelations_

"You don't think he _is_, do you?" Sirius asked James as they changed out of their Quidditch gear after the early morning team practice.

"You're not _still_ going on about Moony are you?" James replied.

"But what if he _is_?" Sirius asked again.

"Then we'll be happy for him, he's one of our best mates," James said.

"You're missing the point." Sirius sighed. "If he's seeing the other Sirius then sooner or later he's going to get his heart broken. The other Sirius will be returning to his own world with the rest of them sooner or later. Leaving Moony here on his own. What if after the other Sirius has gone he…?"

"You think Moony will put the moves on you?" James asked with a laugh. "You're paranoid. You don't know if Moony's gay, and even if he _is_ you don't know if there's anything going on between them anyway."

"I have to find out for sure," Sirius said.

"He'll probably be at breakfast now so we can go and speak to him as soon as we've put our brooms away."

"I can't_ ask_ him," Sirius stated with a look of horror on his face.

"Well how else are you going to find out?"

Sirius stood contemplating the dilemma for a few moments before a wide grin spread across his face and he ran from the room, calling back that he had an idea.

* * *

"You want to go to classes today?" the other Sirius asked with surprise.

"Just Transfiguration," Sirius explained. "I need to speak to McGonagall about something and if I track her down later she'll wonder why I didn't ask her in class. You can borrow my notes afterwards."

The other Sirius raised an eyebrow in questioning amusement.

"All right you can borrow Moony's notes," Sirius amended. "It's just for this morning."

"Okay," the other Sirius shrugged.

Sirius grabbed his books and ran down the stairs to breakfast, wondering all the time whether the expression of disappointment on the other Sirius's face was because he was missing one of his classes or because he was missing spending time with Moony.

* * *

Sirius was pleased to find that Professor McGonagall was full of praise for him in class, and that Remus hadn't noticed that he'd switched places with his double.

"Looks like you're really starting to get the hang if it," Remus whispered after McGonagall had turned her attentions elsewhere.

Sirius grinned as he realised that although he might not be bookish he was better at Transfiguration than his counterpart. Unfortunately he hadn't managed to figure out yet whether there was anything going on between Remus and the other Sirius that was nothing to do with research. Remus wasn't acting any differently from usual and Sirius realised with a flash of inspiration that he was going to have to act differently if he was going to find out for sure.

Making sure that McGonagall was looking in the opposite direction he casually reached under the table and placed his hand on Remus's leg. He felt Remus become tense and a second or two later Remus's fingers closed around his own.

There _was_ something going on between them, he realised but Remus simply moved his hand off of his leg and back onto his own. Or maybe there wasn't. Remus hadn't yelled at him to remove his hand but Remus never liked making a scene, and certainly not in class. Had he minded his hand on his leg or not?

He tried to look the other boy in the eye but Remus was too busy concentrating on the lesson. Clearly the sneaky approach wasn't working that well.

Once the class was over, Sirius decided that perhaps asking direct might have been the better option and casually asked Remus if he fancied skipping Ancient Runes.

"I really shouldn't," Remus replied. "Besides, I thought that was your favourite subject?"

"It is," Sirius lied. "But I wanted to talk to you. It's important."

Remus shrugged and turned away from the corridor leading to the Ancient Runes classroom and headed towards the Entrance Hall.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Remus asked once they were out in the grounds.

"Er…"

"Did you find anything in that new book about inter-dimensional spells about how to open the portal again?" Remus asked while Sirius struggled to find the words to ask what he wanted. Sirius looked at Remus and tried to figure out whether he'd imagined the disappointment in his friend's question.

"Will you miss me when we leave?" Sirius asked.

"Of course," Remus replied. "Though the way things are going my friends may decide to keep your Remus and send me back with you guys anyway."

"No!" Sirius exclaimed in shock.

Remus jumped back slightly at the vehemence of his response. "Oh, I don't think they really would. There are other factors you don't know about. But I think it's probably crossed their minds."

"I'm sure it hasn't," Sirius said. The initial shock of Remus's words had passed and he realised with a stab of guilt that he and the other marauders had rather been neglecting their own Remus.

"I know my friends better than you do," Remus said with a rueful smile. "I'm the one who never comes up with the good ideas for pranks and tries to stop them when I think they're going too far."

"I'm sure you've come up with some great ideas," Sirius said, knowing this was true but not able to elaborate without giving away who he was. "You're the voice of reason and restraint," Sirius said, feeling more miserable by the minute that he'd never realised his friend felt this way.

"I don't think they like being restrained that much," Remus muttered, throwing himself down onto the grass and wrapping his arms around his knees.

"I'm sure they appreciate the hundreds of detentions you've saved them from enduring," Sirius said, dropping to the grass beside him.

"They don't mind doing detentions," Remus replied. "They can even make some of them fun. I just think that…"

"What?" Sirius prompted.

"I just think that I never realised how little I offered to the group until now. I never realised how much I like being a part of them, how much fun I had with them. They think I'm just some nerd who'd rather study than plan pranks."

"No they don't," Sirius insisted quietly.

"It's like the day when we did the spell that brought you guys here," Remus continued as though Sirius hadn't spoken. "I was reading in the dorm and Sirius came in and practically dragged me downstairs. He thought I was studying because I had a book in my hands."

"You weren't?"

"No, it was a novel, a mystery thriller that I'd got from my mum for Christmas. But it's a book and so I _must_ have been studying…at least in Sirius's opinion."

"I'm sure he'd be sorry he'd dragged you away from your book if he knew you were enjoying reading it and not spending all the holidays studying."

"You don't get it, do you?" Remus asked with a sigh of frustration. "I don't mind that he dragged me away from my book. He does it all the time. So do James and Peter. That book would normally have lasted me all term, but even with all the research we've been doing I managed to finish it in less than a week. I _like_ being dragged into the plotting. I _like_ that they include me in their plans. It makes me feel like I'm part of the group, like I'm wanted."

"You _are_ part of the group," Sirius said as he put a hand on Remus's arm. "You _are_ wanted," he whispered.

"I _was_ part of the group," Remus whispered back as he hand closed over Sirius's own. "Now I'm just…I'm…I don't know what I am now."

"You're a marauder," Sirius said with a grin. "Always have been, always will be. No one could replace you."

Remus didn't seem to be listening to him as he looked out across the lake with an expression of utter misery on his face.

Several minutes passed before Sirius realised that Remus's fingers had intertwined with his own and they were holding hands. Two realisations crashed over him in rapid succession. Firstly he knew that there _was_ something going on between Remus and the other Sirius. The shock of that had barely subsided when the second revelation came to him with crystal clarity – he was jealous of his other self.


	6. Demoted

_Chapter 6 – Demoted_

Sirius had left Remus to his thoughts and headed to the empty Muggle Studies classroom where he spent several hours working on his motorbike and trying, with no success whatsoever, not to think about what had happened down by the lake.

He'd been sitting down by the lake with Moony. They'd been in one of the spots that couples liked to go to on a summer evening. And he'd been holding Moony's hand.

He knew that Remus still thought that he had been talking to the other Sirius and he felt a slight stab of guilt that he'd done nothing to correct him on that false assumption. He realised that if Remus had been his usual cheerful and observant self he'd have easily spotted which Sirius he was talking with, but he'd been too distracted by his own thoughts to notice the switch.

He still couldn't quite believe that Remus thought they'd want to lose him from the group. In Sirius's mind it was just unthinkable, Moony was as much a part of the Marauders as any of the others, including himself. No one could replace him, not even another Remus Lupin.

Sirius knew that convincing Moony that he was still one of the Marauders would be relatively easy providing he and the others made an extra effort to include him again. Not so easy would be dealing with the other thoughts that were now plaguing his mind. Thoughts of how good it felt to simply sit on the damp grass on a January morning while holding hands with Remus.

According to the other Remus, the other Sirius was gay. Sirius frowned to himself as he wondered whether that might be a trait he shared with his other self. He didn't seem to have anything else in common with him, but he couldn't deny that ever since the idea had been put into his head he'd been seeing Moony in a whole new light. To put it bluntly he'd been blatantly checking his friend out at an almost frightening frequency.

"But I_ like_ girls," Sirius muttered to himself as he started poking about at the partially built bike. "It's not like I'm repulsed by them or didn't like going out with them, and I certainly enjoyed kissing them."

_But you liked holding Moony's hand too_ a small voice reminded him. _That didn't repulse you either._

"What would Moony say?" Sirius mumbled and he realised that this was the one time he couldn't just go and ask his friend for advice. Every other time he'd had a problem Remus had been his first point of call. James was his best friend, but he did have a tendency to find Sirius's problems highly amusing. Remus never laughed at him, no matter what he wanted to know.

He thought back to when his first girlfriend had been expecting him to French kiss her and he didn't know what she meant. Remus had been the one he'd gone to for answers. He'd not laughed at him or even so much as cracked a smile at his embarrassed, barely coherent question. He'd simply explained what it was and promised not to tell James about their conversation.

Sirius smiled as he recalled the memory and before he knew it his mind had drifted in an alarming new direction and he wondered what it would be like to French kiss Moony. "Oh crap," Sirius muttered when he realised how much he liked the idea.

"What would Moony say?" he repeated. "If I went to him for advice what would he say?"

He pictured himself approaching Remus alone and doing his usual stunt of stumbling over his words as he tried to ask him the latest in a long line of embarrassing questions. Remus would nod seriously and say…

Sirius frowned as he tried to imagine what Remus would say and came up with nothing.

Finally he headed to the Great Hall for dinner. His stomach was growling and he realised that he'd missed lunch.

He sat down beside James and looked across the table at Peter and Remus. He knew without doubt that the Remus across the table was the other Remus and he felt a new pang of guilt that Remus would once again have a reason to think he was being replaced.

Sirius studied the other Remus and wondered how it was that no one had realised that he was not the Remus Lupin everyone had known for more than five years. Sirius wondered if this was exactly what Remus would have been like if he'd never been bitten by a werewolf. If it was, for the first time ever Sirius was grateful for the fact that Remus had been bitten because he knew which one he preferred to spend time with.

Through casual discussions, they'd managed to confirm that the other Remus was not a werewolf and had no reason to vanish next week on the night of the full moon. They still hadn't told the others about Remus's furry little problem and Sirius wondered momentarily if Remus had confided in the other Sirius.

"Earth to Sirius," James said in a sing-song voice. "Are you in on this prank or not?"

"What prank's that?" asked Sirius, dragging his mind back to the conversation around him.

"The one we've been discussing for the past ten minutes," Peter said. "Where've you been?"

"I think I recognise that look," Remus said with a wicked grin. He didn't need to say any more and Sirius felt himself blushing as he recalled his earlier reaction to Moony's fingers entwined with his own.

"So what prank are we going to do next?" he hurriedly asked in order to steer the conversation away from less troubling topics.

"We're going to enchant the school carriages to pull themselves," James said with a grin. "Most kids think they do anyway but won't it be great for the staff to see the carriages running around on their own with no thestrals pulling them?"

Sirius grinned. That sounded like a prank the whole school would enjoy.

* * *

"Absolutely disgraceful!" Professor McGonagall yelled. "Three of the school carriages damaged beyond repair and one at the bottom of the lake. What were you thinking?"

Sirius, James, Peter and the other Remus stood in Professor McGonagall's office with their eyes downcast.

"Three students in the hospital wing," McGonagall continued at an even higher volume. "You will be apologising personally to each and every one of those students as soon as they are well enough for visitors."

The spell had worked only too well, they just hadn't anticipated that the carriages would have violent tendencies.

"You'll all serve detentions for the next month and forgo any visits to Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school year."

Sirius kept his gaze focused firmly on the floor. The professors didn't know about their monthly visits to the village on the nights of the full moon. As such there was no use in not trying to look as contrite is possible now. It wouldn't do for her to realise that the punishment wasn't anywhere near as bad as she thought it was.

"Remus Lupin," McGonagall continued in a slightly quieter tone. "I'm surprised at you. I thought you had more sense than this. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to revoke your prefect status, effective immediately."

Sirius looked up at that. McGonagall had no way of knowing that the Remus standing before them was not a prefect.

"Your badge please." McGonagall held out her hand.

"It's on my other robes," Remus replied. He was still looking at the floor, though Sirius suspected that in his case it was so that McGonagall wouldn't recognise that he wasn't who she thought he was.

"Then go and fetch it immediately," McGonagall ordered. "Oh get out of my sight, the lot of you."

Sirius hurried with the rest of his friends towards the door. Once outside he cast a look at James.

"Moony's gonna kill us," James whispered.

* * *

They found Remus in the dormitory chatting with the other James about, of all people, Severus Snape. As soon as they'd discovered that the other James and Snape were friends Remus had become particularly interested in discovering just how many more differences there were between their two worlds.

"How many detentions have you got?" Remus asked after they'd all piled into the room.

"A month," James replied. "And no Hogsmeade visits for the rest of the year."

"There's something else," Sirius said as he sat down on Remus's bed and looked guiltily at his friend.

"What?" Remus asked cautiously.

"McGonagall revoked your prefect status," Sirius looked at his friend and watched disappointment cloud over his face. "She wants your badge back."

"Maybe we should just go and tell her the truth," Remus said after a few minutes of stunned silence.

"It's not like we're any nearer figuring out a way to get us all back home," the other Sirius added. "Professor McGonagall may be able to help."

"I don't think telling McGonagall about any more mucked up spells is a good idea," Sirius said. "At least not right now."

The rest of the group nodded and Sirius watched as his friend slowly nodded his agreement. He unpinned his still shining prefect badge and held it out to the other Remus.

"Maybe you should take it yourself," the other Remus suggested. "We don't want the old battleaxe noticing I'm not you."

"She didn't notice when you were with her just now," Remus pointed out. "I know we're a bit…different…but we can pass for each other easy enough."

"No sense risking it," the other Remus said.

"Well you're going to have to risk it for the detentions so why not now?" Remus asked.

"I thought you'd be doing them," the other Remus declared with a grin. "You're doing all your own lessons and stuff."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed at the same time as every other occupant of the room yelled out. He didn't hear a word the others were saying as he launched into his angry tirade at the other Remus. "_You_ were the one who earned those detentions, you can damn well join the rest of us. Moony didn't do anything to deserve them. It's bad enough he's lost his prefect status and trips to Hogsmeade. He's not going to do your detentions for you."

"What if you find a way to send us back home before the month is up?" the other Remus asked with a smirk.

"Moony," Sirius turned to his friend. "You will _not _under any circumstances whatsoever help this little git return to his own world before he's served all his detentions."

"Then I guess our Sirius will have to find a solution on his own," the other Remus said.

"No I won't," the other Sirius muttered.

"Traitor!" the other Remus hissed as he turned to his friend and shot him a withering glare.

"You _will_ serve your detentions with the rest of us," Sirius repeated.

"Fine," the other Remus snapped. He stood up and snatched the prefect badge from Remus and stormed from the room.

"Thanks," Remus said as he looked at his friends one by one.

"You look surprised," Sirius commented. "Did you think we'd let him have all the fun of pranking whilst you do the detentions?"

Remus shrugged but didn't say anything.

"Oh crap!" Sirius muttered. "You did, didn't you? You really thought we'd let that selfish git take advantage of your good nature like that."

Remus shrugged again and Sirius shifted his position so that he could put his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Hell Moony, you don't have much faith in your best friends do you?"

* * *

Over the next week Remus came to realise that the rest of the marauders, and Sirius especially, seemed to be making an extra effort to include him in the group. For the first time since their doubles had come into their lives he began to feel like part of the group again.

If it weren't for the overcrowded dormitory and the constant worry that they were going to get found out any day now Remus could almost forget the spell altogether.

"What happened to you?" Remus asked Wormtail as he sank onto the bench at the opposite side of the table for dinner.

"Got slapped by Meg, that fifth year from Hufflepuff," Peter replied as he continued to rub at his rather red cheek.

"What did she do that for?" James asked as he tried to smother a grin.

"I was trying out one of _his_ lines," Peter replied. "He said it worked for him and I thought I'd give it a try."

"Probably most of the girls at his school are fawning over him because he's the star of the Quidditch team," Remus pointed out. "They probably aren't even listening to whatever nonsense he's blabbering about; as long as he's talking to them they couldn't care less."

"You think so?" Peter asked.

"Well he does tend to come out with some crap," Remus assured him with a snort. "Chances are if he tried it here himself he wouldn't get any further than you."

Peter nodded thoughtfully.

"They're really not as much fun as we thought they were, are they?" James asked. "All _he_ does is yammer on about how happy he and Lily are and how lucky he is to have her, and how much he misses her and _Sev_."

"The other Sirius is all right though," Sirius commented with a surreptitious glance at Remus. "It's like having two Moonys here."

He turned to smile at Remus and was surprised to see that he was glaring at him with an unusually hostile expression. He dropped his fork in surprise. "What?" he asked. "What did I say?"

"You really think I'm like that?" Remus finally whispered. "Working and studying all the time?"

"Of course not," Sirius interrupted but Remus wasn't listening.

"Always serious and never having a joke with anyone?" Remus continued. "I'm amazed you've all put up with me for so long. That you haven't just dropped dead from the sheer boredom of my company."

Remus jumped up from the table and ran from the Great Hall, his meal unfinished and his friends stunned.

"I don't think Moony's boring," Sirius said.

"'Course you don't," James replied. "None of us do."

"I thought he got along with the other Sirius," Sirius said in a lower tone so that no one else could hear him. "I thought they were…you know…"

"Together?" James whispered back with a sly grin.

"Yeah," Sirius replied. "I don't know how far they've gone but I'm sure there's something going on between them."

"There are eight of us crowded into the dorm at the moment," James pointed out with a quiet laugh. "With the extra beds we've transfigured in the room we can hardly move about without tripping over at least two other people. They can't have gone _that_ far."

"We don't know that," Sirius muttered. "Silencing charms, disillusionment charms, levitation charms in case the bed creaks. They _could_ have."

James picked his jaw up and shook his head. "You've really put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?" he asked with a grin. "Is there something you're not telling us mate?"

Sirius felt himself flushing in embarrassment and knew the second the light dawned in the dim recesses of James's brain.

"What's up?" Peter asked from across the table. He'd been too far away to hear the whispered conversation between James and Sirius and hadn't realised the direction the conversation had drifted in.

James howled with laughter, drawing the attention of numerous other students and several teachers.

"Glad you find this so terribly amusing," Sirius muttered. "You might offer some helpful suggestions, instead of merely choking with laughter."

"Oh Padfoot," James spluttered. "I'm sorry, but this is just _too_ priceless. You're jealous…of yourself. You're your own rival. You've _got_ to see the funny side."

"I'm in stitches," Sirius muttered with a deadpan expression. "And would you keep your voice down."

"Look on the bright side," James continued in a much quieter tone. "Moony didn't sound like he was too happy with the other you when he stormed off just now. In fact, reading between the lines I'd say he thought he was _boring_."

"So you think I'm in with a chance?" Sirius whispered. If he'd been hoping for reassurance or helpful tips he was sorely disappointed as James merely collapsed in peals of laughter once more.


	7. Outed

_Chapter 7 – Outed_

Remus woke up in the hospital wing on the morning after the full moon. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room. Sirius was sitting in a chair at one the side of his bed and James was snoring in his seat on the other. He guessed that Peter was in Muggle Studies and wondered why Sirius wasn't there with him.

"Sirius?" Remus asked in a croaky voice.

"I can miss the occasional class when I put so many extra hours in for my project," Sirius replied in anticipation of Remus's question.

"That wasn't what I was going to ask," Remus said. "Not my first question anyway."

"Oh? What was your first question?"

"Why are you holding my hand?" Remus asked in an amused tone.

"Er…" Sirius felt his mind go blank as he tried to think of a sensible reason as to why he was holding his friend's hand when normally he wouldn't have been. He couldn't even remember why he'd been holding his hand in the first place. It had just been there and before he'd thought about it he'd taken it into his own. James had raised an amused eyebrow at his action but he'd just shrugged and enclosed the smaller and colder fingers within his own.

"Sirius?" Remus asked again.

"Yes?"

"Can I have my hand back please?"

Sirius let go of Remus's hand, muttered something incoherent and James, who'd apparently been woken by their voices, snorted with laughter.

"I'll leave you two alone," James said with a grin and a wink at Sirius. "Or maybe not," he amended as he looked towards the doors and saw that Lily was walking through them.

"Hi Evans," James greeted her.

"Morning," she replied in a curt tone. "Don't let me stop you leaving." She glared at James and then at Sirius.

"I'm going anyway," James assured her. "Gives you a chance to miss me."

"I'm sticking around for a while," Sirius said, in a tone that dared her to take issue with his decision. She didn't and merely sat down in James's recently vacated seat.

"So are you going to tell me what's going on?" Lily asked with a glare at the two remaining boys.

"Full moon last night, me in hospital wing recovering," Remus answered slightly sarcastically. Lily had known his secret for a long time now and he didn't know why she'd suddenly burst into the hospital wing with such a daft question.

Lily rolled her eyes and elaborated. "I meant why is there another Remus running around the school? You know, the one who looks like you and sounds like you, but isn't you?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," Sirius lied.

"You know_ exactly_ what I'm talking about," Lily retorted. "I went down to the kitchens late last night you know. It was Gaby's birthday and we were having a midnight feast."

"How nice for you all," Sirius commented in a sweetly sarcastic tone.

"Yes it was," Lily continued equally sweetly. "But imagine my surprise when I walk into the kitchen and see none other than a certain Remus Lupin and someone else who looked remarkably like Peter, raiding the kitchens too. Peter looked like he'd lost about ten pounds and Remus looked even more healthy, especially considering how it was a full moon and he was perfectly human."

"Maybe you were sleepwalking," Sirius suggested with a smirk.

"Or maybe there's another Remus and another Peter wandering around the school," Lily replied. "Not to mention another Sirius. I _know_ I saw you two in the library that day you were also in the common room. And since when does Remus do something so bad that he loses his prefect badge?"

"We didn't know that that prank was going to go so wrong," Sirius explained sheepishly.

"The Remus Lupin _I_ know would have anticipated something like that and talked you out of it," Lily argued. "He also wouldn't call me 'babe'."

Remus smiled at Lily's indignant tone.

"Moony's just going through a rebellious stage," Sirius said. "Nothing to worry about."

"Oh." Lily smirked. "In that case it won't matter that I asked the other Moony when it was they'd discovered a cure for lycanthropy since he appeared to have made a full recovery."

"You didn't?" Remus asked in horror.

"I thought he was you," Lily pointed out. "I should have known it wasn't you but it was the middle of the night, I was actually quite tired and I spoke without thinking. Though if you'd all been truthful when I'd asked the first time, this wouldn't have happened."

"I think we're caught," Sirius said. "But you can't tell the teachers what we've done Lily."

"What exactly _have_ you done?" Lily asked.

"We opened a portal to another world, a parallel world," Remus explained. "And our doubles came through to this world and got stuck here. We've been trying to figure out a way to get them back but without any luck."

"So they're not planning on staying here permanently?" Lily questioned.

"Hell no!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I take it you don't like your double much?"

"My double isn't so bad," Sirius said with a cautious glance at Remus. "But Remus's is a total nightmare."

"How long have they been here?" Lily asked with open curiosity.

"Since a couple of days before the end of the holidays," Remus confirmed.

"Ah." Lily nodded as though something had just occurred to her. "It was James's double who kissed me wasn't it?"

"Afraid so," Sirius nodded. "The other James has been dating you, or rather your double in his own world, for a while and forgot where he was."

"I suppose I should go and apologise to him," said Lily, almost to herself. "I can't believe you've hidden them all for so long."

"I can't believe we didn't warn Remus not to go down to the kitchens on the night of the full moon," Remus muttered. "Imagine if a teacher had caught him."

"You really should tell Professor McGonagall," Lily pointed out. "She would probably be able to help you get rid of them."

"You're preaching to the choir," Remus sighed.

"On your own heads be it," Lily said as she stood to leave. "I'll see you both later. Er…"

"Is there something else?" Sirius asked.

"Not really," Lily replied with a faint blush. "I just hadn't realised you two had finally got together." She gestured towards the bed and Sirius was slightly surprised to see that his hand had once again wandered across the sheets and was holding onto Remus's.

"Er…" Sirius began and he felt his own face redden. A moment later Lily's exact words registered in his muddled mind. "What do you mean 'finally'?"

"Well it's been kind of obvious to most of the girls, not to mention a fair number of the boys, that you two have a bit of a thing for each other," Lily explained with an easy grin. "One of the Ravenclaw fifth year girls has been running a pool since the start of fifth year on when you two were going to come out. I had June next year myself."

"What?" Remus squeaked.

"I had June next year," Lily repeated. "I figured you two were both so oblivious to the fact that you were checking each other out it wouldn't be until you were about to leave school and go your separate ways that you'd realise."

"I don't check Remus out," Sirius insisted, mentally adding to himself that it was partially true. He'd not been checking him out for that long and certainly not since fifth year. He noticed Remus was suspiciously silent. Casting a quick glance in his direction he saw that he was flushed scarlet.

"Er, sorry, but yes you do," Lily replied with a shrug of indifference. "You've both been doing it since fourth year."

With that Lily turned on her heel and left with a small smile. Sirius had the distinct impression she was on her way to track down a certain Ravenclaw student.

"Well that was embarrassing," Remus said after the door had closed.

"Don't know where she gets these odd ideas," Sirius mumbled.

"It might have something to do with the fact you're holding my hand again," Remus replied, smiling and lifting up said hand as he spoke in case Sirius hadn't noticed.

"So _have_ you been checking me out since fourth year?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"If I was I didn't know I was doing it," Remus replied after a moment of thought. "Did you ever…?"

"Not until this last week," Sirius admitted, his face reddening again. "Do you want your hand back again?" he asked with a grin.

Remus, still looking a little stunned, shook his head and grinned back.

"So," Sirius began. "Just to clarify things, you do prefer me to the other Sirius, right?"

Remus frowned in mock contemplation. "I don't know," he drawled. "I guess it depends on how good a kisser you are. He's…"

Remus didn't get any further with his teasing as Sirius stood up and pressed his mouth over Remus's own. He teased Remus's mouth open with his tongue and as soon as he gained access he slowly began to explore the other boy's mouth. Sirius had kissed his fair share of girls over the past few years, though nowhere near as many as the gossips seemed to think, but he knew that this was different. This was Moony and if he messed up now he'd never forgive himself.

He pulled back only when he needed oxygen. He was pleased to see that Remus's breathing was as ragged as his own.

"Which do you prefer now?" he whispered in Remus's ear.

Remus laughed and pulled him back for another kiss. This time they only broke away at the pointed cough of Madam Pomfrey standing at the end of the bed.

"You seem to have recovered Remus," she said in her usual brisk tone. "Do you feel well enough to return to the main school?"

"Maybe five more minutes," Remus asked with a cheeky grin that had Sirius covering his own mouth with his hand to keep from laughing out loud.

"Five more minutes indeed," Madam Pomfrey said with a roll of her eyes as she bustled off to tend to an incoming Quidditch injury.

* * *

"Sorry we've been neglecting you a bit," Sirius said as they reached the door of the boys' dormitory. "We didn't mean to make you feel like you're not still a part of the marauders. You're our Moony."

Remus gave him a small smile. "So you wouldn't want me to be more like the other Remus?" he asked hesitantly. "More exciting?"

"Never," Sirius replied. "You're my Moony. No one could ever replace you. You wouldn't want me to be more like the other Sirius would you?"

"Never," Remus replied with a laugh. "I much prefer my Padfoot."

"And I'm the better kisser?" Sirius asked, just to be sure.

"I don't know," Remus snorted. "You're the only Sirius I've kissed."

"But you said…" Sirius spluttered.

"I was just teasing you," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes.

"But I thought you two were…"

"Were you jealous?" Remus whispered into his ear.

"Might have been," Sirius admitted as he took Remus's hand in his own again.

"Well he's good to talk to about schoolwork and the whole problem of getting the portal opened again, but he's kind of boring."

"So there hasn't been anything going on between you two?" Sirius asked.

"He's barely even made a move on me," Remus replied. "Apart from once in Transfiguration class when he put his hand on my leg. If it weren't for that I'd never have started thinking of him in that way. Or started comparing him to you and wondering..."

"Er…"

"What?" Remus asked.

"Nothing," Sirius muttered with a smile. "So I'm definitely your favourite?"

"Definitely," Remus replied.

"Glad to hear it," said Sirius, giving Remus another quick kiss. "Now we'd better go inside and explain about your furry little problem."

They knew it wasn't going to be as easy as all that as soon as they stepped through the door.

"It's the werewolf," the other Sirius said in a tone of horror. If it weren't for Padfoot's steady grip on his hand Remus would have bolted right back out the door. As it was, all he could do was stand and look at the shocked inhabitants of the room.


	8. Marauders

_Chapter 8 – Marauders_

"Moony, Padfoot, there you are!" James exclaimed. "Thought you'd got lost or something."

Remus turned round to see that James had come up the stairs behind them. Peter and Lily were close on his heels.

"You okay Moony?" James asked.

Remus nodded but cast a nervous glance back into the room.

"I'm here to apologise to James," Lily said. "The other James," she added at Prongs's hopeful expression.

There was no putting it off and Remus stepped over the threshold of the dormitory, the others in tow.

"They look almost exactly like you all," Lily said in wonder as she looked around the room.

"They are us," Remus said. "Just not from this world."

"We're nothing like you," the other Remus sneered. "None of us is a monster."

"Don't speak to Moony like that," James shouted, his wand already raised.

"Moony? At least now we know what the name means," the other Remus said with a look of pure venom. "What about the rest of them?"

"I think that's on a need to know basis," Sirius said quietly. "And you lot really don't need to know."

"Sounds like you've been up to something you don't want the teachers knowing about," the other Remus commented casually. "Something_ else_ you don't want them knowing about."

"How about we all just calm down," Remus suggested in a placatory tone.

"Stay out of this werewolf," the other Sirius said.

Remus reeled back like he'd been slapped. "I'm still me," he said in a quiet voice. "I thought we were friends."

"You lied to us," the other Sirius accused.

"We didn't know how you'd take it," James explained.

"It takes a bit of getting used to," Peter added.

"I can't believe this world would let a _thing _like that in a school." The other Remus looked around the room scornfully.

Remus started to shake and he gripped his own wand tighter as he tried not to lose his temper or, worse, burst into tears at the hurtful words. Sirius and James had no such reservations about losing their tempers and they sent a variety of hexes across the room.

"What did you do that for?" the other James yelled. "He's got a point."

"I can't believe I came up here to _apologise_ to you," Lily snapped. "You're even worse that our James, and believe me when I say that that is _really_ saying something!"

"You hurt me, Evans," James said. "I'd never treat Moony like this bunch."

"My point exactly," Lily replied. "You have at least one redeeming quality. I just hope the Lily in their world comes to their senses and dumps this jerk."

At that point all hell broke loose and hexes started flying from every wand in the room.

* * *

"Cease this behaviour at once!" the commanding tone of Professor McGonagall echoed around the room. "When two first year students came to me saying they thought murder was being committed in this sixth form dormitory I thought they were exaggerating. I never thought I'd see a display of such disgraceful behaviour from Gryffindors. And so soon after the last incident. You will all report to my office immediately. _All_ of you."

She cast a withering glance around the room and swept back out of the door and down the stairs.

"We've really done it this time," Sirius muttered. "We'll probably be expelled."

"That means _now_," McGonagall's voice called back up the stairs.

A few minutes later eight boys and one girl stood in Professor McGonagall's office with varying expressions of guilt on their faces.

"Who would care to explain first?" McGonagall asked. No one moved so much as a muscle. "Miss Evans, as my one remaining sixth year prefect for the Gryffindor house would you like to give me a good reason why I should not strip you of your badge."

"I'm sorry, Professor," Lily murmured.

"'Sorry' is not a good enough reason to excuse your behaviour today," McGonagall snapped. "Perhaps someone might care to explain why I appear to be seeing double."

"It was a spell that went a bit wrong," Remus offered. "They got stuck here."

"What do you mean?" McGonagall asked with less volume than she'd previously spoken with and a lot more interest.

"It was in a book I got for Christmas," James explained. "I thought it might show the future but it opened up some sort of doorway to their world. And they came through it and got stuck here."

"You mean you couldn't open up the doorway again?" McGonagall asked curiously. "Was this an inter-dimensional spell?"

"Yes Professor," James replied.

McGonagall was quiet for a very long time. All nine students were shifting from foot to foot and alternately looking at the floor, the ceiling, the fireplace, anywhere but at their formidable head of house or at each other.

"When was this spell cast?" McGonagall finally asked.

"Just before the end of the holidays," James confirmed.

"And they've been hiding out in the school all this time?" McGonagall asked with utter astonishment.

"Not always hiding," the other Sirius admitted. "Some of us have been attending classes instead of our others so we don't fall behind while we're stuck here."

"You've been in my Transfiguration classes instead of…" McGonagall's voice trailed off and she shook her head in apparent despair. "Did it not occur to any of you to come speak with me or Professor Dumbledore about this? Miss Evans?"

"Lily didn't know," James spoke up immediately. "She only found out today and said we should come to you." Lily shot James the most grateful look he'd ever seen from her and he grinned back in response.

"I'm not sure what you find so amusing about this Mr Potter," McGonagall snapped. "Though I appreciate your honesty as to Miss Evans' part in all of this," she added in a kinder tone.

"Sorry Professor," James dutifully replied as he ducked his head to hide the small smile that he couldn't seem to get rid of.

"What about you Mr Lupin?" McGonagall asked. Remus shifted uncomfortably under her gaze.

"Um," he managed to mumble.

"Remus wanted to come to you right away," Sirius stated. "So did the other Sirius."

"I imagine that would make you _our_ Sirius," McGonagall replied with a reluctant but still amused smile. Sirius nodded his confirmation.

"Well the spell explains the extra students Gryffindor tower seems to have been harbouring. But it doesn't explain the fighting, especially so recently after the incident with the carriages."

"Erm, about that…" Sirius interrupted.

Professor McGonagall took one look at Sirius and guessed what he was about to say. "That wasn't our Remus was it?" she asked quietly, looking from one Remus to the other and then back to Sirius.

Sirius shook his head.

"And you let your friend lose his prefect badge without saying anything?" McGonagall asked. "I sincerely hope you'll be apologising for that."

"They already have," Remus replied.

"You're not going to ask for it back?" McGonagall asked with a small smile.

"No Professor," Remus muttered. "We were still fighting."

"Which brings us nicely back to the question of why," McGonagall stated.

Silence reigned again.

"It was a full moon last night wasn't it?" McGonagall commented casually and a satisfied expression settled on her face as nine sets of eyes looked at her.

"I take it you're not suffering from lycanthropy?" she asked the other Remus.

"I'm not some monster, no," he replied with a sneer.

"I see," McGonagall said in a deceptively calm tone that let them know that she saw far more than they had verbally revealed. "I think we'd better see about getting you four home again. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will know what to do."

* * *

"Where precisely were you standing when you performed the spell?" Dumbledore asked.

"Somewhere around here," James said with a vague wave towards the spot he thought he'd been standing on.

"Precisely, Mr Potter," McGonagall said as the audience that had amassed in the common room giggled. It wasn't every day that they saw the headmaster performing some sort of spell and that, combined with an excess of marauders, was something worth hanging around to see.

James gestured, more confidently, to the spot he'd been standing in and Dumbledore walked towards it.

"And the place the doorway appeared?" he asked.

"Just here," James said, pointing in what he hoped was the right vicinity. He looked at Sirius as though for some kind of confirmation that he was right but Sirius merely shrugged.

"It seems to me that we need to get a message through to the other side of that doorway," Dumbledore said.

"Would you like to see the book my dad sent?" James offered. Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. "Oh I don't think that will be necessary. Now if everyone could stand back please."

Everyone moved back several paces as Dumbledore moved around the place where the opening had been. He seemed to be searching for something and eventually he made a sound of suppressed triumph and nodded firmly. Drawing out his wand he completed a complex set of movements and stepped back with a smile.

"Now what?" James asked.

"Now we wait," Dumbledore replied with another smile. "I don't imagine it'll take too long. No doubt my counterpart has already noticed he's missing some students. I don't imagine they could vanish without someone noticing. He'll get my message soon enough and then we can see about sending these boys home."

They didn't have to wait long. Ten minutes later Dumbledore bent down and picked up a small piece of parchment that had appeared out of thin air.

"Excellent," Dumbledore said. Then he turned back to stand in the same position James had stood in during the holidays. He didn't speak the incantation but the wand movements were the same and soon a familiar doorway was forming before their eyes.

Two shadowy figures appeared and then came into focus and they found themselves looking at another Dumbledore and McGonagall, both of whom wore expressions of both worry and relief.

"Make sure they know that Mr Lupin has detentions still to serve and no Hogsmeade visits for the rest of the year," McGonagall insisted. Dumbledore nodded as he silently communicated with his counterpart. The other Dumbledore nodded and gave what appeared to be a sigh of impatient frustration.

"I believe they may find some additional detentions being served for the fighting," Dumbledore commented. "I'll leave it to the discretion of their own head of house as to how severe their punishments are. Now, if you're all ready and have everything you brought with you," Dumbledore waved towards the portal.

The four boys nodded and the other James waved his copy of the book that had caused so much trouble.

"Then I don't see any reason to detain you all further," Dumbledore said. With that he stepped back and allowed the boys to file past him one by one. As soon as James stepped through to the other side he found himself relieved of his book by Professor McGonagall.

"Good idea," mumbled their own McGonagall. She turned her glare on James who produced his own book and passed it to her. "You can have it back at the end of the year."

No one argued with her.

Remus watched as the last of their doubles walked through to the portal. Dumbledore gave a curt nod to his counterpart and the portal closed once more.

"I assume you can handle things from here, Minerva?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.

McGonagall returned his smile with one of her own before turning to the five remaining students.

She waited until Dumbledore had left before she spoke. "Miss Evans, you will have one week of detentions for fighting, and consider yourself lucky I'm not taking your prefect badge from you.

Mr Lupin, you will also have a week of detentions for fighting and for not coming forward immediately after the spell went awry I think that forgoing your trips to Hogsmeade for the rest of the year will be sufficient. As a prefect you should have known better. But I don't imagine you would wish to go without your friends anyway."

"We've still got our other punishment as well?" Sirius asked.

"Certainly," McGonagall said with a snort at the very idea that they hadn't. "You will also have an extra week of detentions on top of the ones you already have for fighting."

She turned to leave the room but stopped at the portrait hole. "Oh, one last thing," she said. "Remus." She held out her hand and waited for Remus to walk across the room towards her.

"Yes Professor?" Remus asked quietly.

"You may have this back now." She dropped the shiny prefect badge into his hand.

"Really?" he asked.

"You weren't a part of the carriages incident," McGonagall explained kindly. "You shouldn't be punished for that particular transgression."

"Thank you Professor," Remus whispered with a small smile, but McGonagall was already gone.

"Let's head upstairs and sort out the dormitory," James said. "We've got beds to get rid of and I know the house elves will be pleased that they don't have the extra meals and laundry to sort out."

Remus nodded and followed the others up the stairs.

In no time at all the room was put to rights.

"Well aren't you going to put it back on?" Sirius asked, pointing to the badge. Remus nodded but Sirius didn't wait for him to do so. He took the badge from Remus's hand and carefully pinned it to his jumper himself. "Perfect," he said. "Now everything's back to normal again."

"Is it?" Remus asked quietly. "Is everything exactly as it was before?"

"Not quite everything," Sirius amended with a grin. He pulled Remus closer and planted a quick kiss on the end of his nose.

"Does this mean you two are…like…together?" Peter asked cautiously.

"Definitely," Sirius replied. "As long as Mr Moony's in agreement?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"Mr Moony agrees with Mr Padfoot," Remus replied with a grin of his own. "You guys don't have a problem with this, do you?"

"It's brilliant," Peter said while James merely grinned and shook his head.

"I must admit I didn't expect you to respond quite so happily Wormtail," Sirius said.

"It's perfect," Peter said. "Now if you'll just excuse me I need to go and see a Ravenclaw about…er…something."

"Wait a minute," James asked before Peter reached the door. "Did you have January?"

"Yep," Peter replied. "The next round of butterbeers are on me."

"You do realise that without a public display of affection from them you won't get paid?" James asked.

Peter stopped at the doorway. "Oh yeah, forgot about that. Okay Padfoot, Moony, I think dinner this evening would be best. Stand just inside the doorway where everyone can see you. If you snog for about a minute I'm think everyone will see, but you'd better wait until everyone starts whistling and heckling just to be sure. Okay?"

James laughed as he pushed Peter out the door.

"Did_ everyone_ know apart from us?" Remus asked with shake of his head.

"Apparently," Sirius replied. "I think we should forgo any 'public displays of affection' until the last day of the month to make them wait for their money."

"Good idea," Remus agreed.

"Seems strange to have the dorm so empty again," Sirius said as he sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Good strange, though," Remus said as he sat down beside him.

"Definitely," Sirius agreed. "The marauders don't need anyone else. You know that right? You're a part of the group, the best part."

Remus raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really," Sirius said. "I mean it. You're the one who keeps us all from fighting, and from getting into too much trouble. You're the nicest marauder as well. You're the one we all come to when we've got problems. And you think of the funniest pranks."

"No I don't," Remus muttered.

"Yes you _do_," Sirius insisted. "Your pranks are the ones that everyone can have a laugh about, including the victim. You've even made McGonagall smile once."

"So you don't think I'm…you know…the boring marauder?"

"Moony, I promise, you are _never_ boring. You're a marauder. It's categorically impossible for you to be both." Sirius grinned and took Remus's hand in his own.

"I don't think I've ever thanked you…any of you…for accepting me," Remus said quietly. "All of me, including the werewolf part."

"What are friends for?" Sirius said easily. Remus smiled back at him as he realised that Sirius was right. By accepting him so completely they had earned his friendship forever and no matter what else happened in the future, he was sure they would always be friends.

The End

* * *

A/N - If you enjoyed this story please consider checking out the sequels - Catch a Quaffle, Triple Trouble, Trouble With a Capital T and Too Much Trouble.


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